reasons.

"you've got real skill with your poetry" he says.

but when you have spent your entire youth

without a voice,

struggling to find a way to call out for help,

befriending words and teaching them

to speak for you

to scream out in pain for you

to cry for you

to heal you

measuring their weight in hearts they touch-

it is not a skill, but a gift the universe has granted,

a tool to bring myself peace

to teach myself forgiveness

to heal. 

-r.jalila 01 / 15 / 2019